Rallies set in cities across the U.S. against planned Koran burning

Students for a Democratic Society at the University of North Carolina-Asheville will hold a rally downtown along with peace, social justice and other activists from the Asheville community on Sept. 11, the anniversary of the 2001 attacks in New York and Washington D.C., to speak out against a wave of anti-Muslim bigotry that has spread across the U.S. in recent weeks. The event will also call for an end to U.S. wars and occupations being carried out in the name of ‘fighting terrorism.’ This rally will coincide with others like it being held in cities across the country.

The rally will be held Sept. 11 at 1:00 p.m. at Pack Square in downtown Asheville.

On Sept. 11, right-wing groups plan to demonstrate at the World Trade Center site to whip up hysteria against a proposal to build an Islamic community center several blocks from the WTC site. On that same day, Christian fundamentalists plan a “Burn the Qur’an” day in Florida.

Jeremy Miller, an organizer with Students for a Democratic Society, said, “Sept. 11, 2001 was a tragedy. It was tragedy for those who lost their lives on that day and has been an ongoing tragedy for the victims of the ‘war of terror’ that has been waged on the people of the world since then.”

“We demand an end to the wars and occupations in Iraq and Afghanistan now and that all the troops be brought home,” Miller continued. “We must not allow what happened on that day to be used as a justification for these ongoing wars for empire or for anti-Muslim bigotry and anti-Arab racism. We will join our sisters and brothers in Gainseville Florida, New York and in many other cities around the country to stand up and fight back!”

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